Gibson Les Paul Studio Faded (Ebony Stain)

Pure Les Paul swagger in a modern, no-nonsense package.

Looking for a full-bore Gibson USA Les Paul at a trimmed-down price? The Les Paul Studio Faded with Maple Top fits the bill in spades. This model includes all the classic ingredients that have made the Les Paul Standard legendary since humbuckers first hit the Goldtop in 1957, along with a familiar played-in look and feel, at a price that any hard-working guitarist can sink their teeth into. Right from its introduction in 1983, the Les Paul Studio model has been a firm favorite with guitarists looking for genuine Les Paul tone and performance in a down-to-business package that is light on frills, heavy on swagger, and easy on the pocket. Several Studio models offer this in an all-mahogany body, but now the Les Paul Studio Faded with Maple Top adds this dense, hard wood top to the package for enhanced clarity and outstanding sustain, just like the original Les Paul Standards. Not one element of construction or component quality is sacrificed to bring you this high-performance electric guitar, and the Gibson USA Les Paul Studio Faded with Maple Top takes this thinking one stage further, in a guitar that offers the pre-aged look and feel that so many guitarists prefer.

A handful of cosmetic simplifications help to bring this Les Paul in at a truly astounding price. A minimalist finishing process leaves the beautiful grain of the carved maple top in full luscious view through your choice of Maple Top, or two gorgeous new options, Blue Stain and Ebony Stain. A lack of binding around the body top and fingerboard also gives a tactile, organic look and feel to the instrument as a whole. Where tone and performance are concerned, however, the Studio Faded model stays right in the legendary Les Paul Standard’s wheelhouse, with the timeless hardware that has helped to make Les Pauls total sustain monsters for more than five decades, and—this time out—a set of upgraded humbucking pickups, the same high-performance PAF-style Burstbucker Pros that are included on several top-shelf guitars from the Gibson Custom Shop. Wrap it all up, and it’s an unparalleled package for anyone from the discerning studio musician to the hard-touring artist in search of a no-nonsense tone machine. And at this price, there’s no reason not to check out the Les Paul Studio Faded with Maple Top today—and make it your very own.

The Get Down-to-Business Les Paul

Just like the most revered Les Paul Standards of all time, this Les Paul Studio Faded starts with the classic tonewood combination of a mahogany body with solid carved maple top. Together, these woods offer outstanding tonal depth and richness from the mahogany, with superb clarity and “snap” from the maple. In this model, the strategic placement of several tone chambers enhances resonance while also reducing the guitar’s overall weight considerably, without sacrificing an ounce of punch or sustain. And even in this more affordable instrument from Gibson USA, the glued-in solid-mahogany neck is cut to the superior “quarter-sawn” grain orientation for superior strength and optimum resonance transfer between neck and body.

To further maximize all that vibrational energy, Gibson includes its legendary Tune-o-matic bridge and stud-mounted wraparound tailpiece, arguably the most storied hardware combination in the history of the electric guitar. Designed to allow precise intonation of individual strings for perfectly in-tune playing, this bridge and tailpiece pairing also provides rock-solid string anchoring at the body end. Of course, to make optimum use of all that sweet resonance and singing sustain you need a couple of superb pickups, and the Les Paul Studio Faded with Maple Top carries a pair of the very best: updated from the acclaimed Burstbucker pickups that populate numerous instruments from Gibson Custom, the Burstbucker Pros on this model give you all the renowned warmth, growl and zing of genuine PAF humbuckers, with biting Alnico V magnets. The set includes a slightly overwound bridge pickup for searing lead tones, and both pickups feature wax-potted coils to squelch microphonic squeal at high volumes. Together, they provide everything from warm, vocal blues tones in the neck position, to snappy in-between settings, to phenomenal crunch and wail in the bridge position.

All this tonal splendor would do you little good without superb playability, and the Les Paul Studio Faded with Maple Top excels in this department, too. A rounded ’50s neck profile is extremely comfortable in the hand while still fast and supple under the fingertips, and the rosewood fingerboard’s 12-inch radius and 22 medium-jumbo frets offer easy bending with no choking out. To top it all off, the Les Paul Studio Faded with Maple Top looks great in your choice of Faded Cherry or Worn Brown finish, both in genuine nitrocellulose lacquer, naturally. All this, and your guitar comes protected in a Gibson Deluxe Gig Bag, and covered by Gibson’s famous Limited Lifetime Warranty and 24/7/365 customer service.

Body and Finish

A solid, carved maple top and chambered mahogany body give the Les Paul Studio Faded with Maple Top a solid foundation and rich, complex voice in line with great Les Pauls of more than half a century. Your choice of Worn Cherry or Worn Brown finish offers a great pre-aged look and feel, with a beautifully visible grain beneath the thin translucent nitrocellulose lacquer.

Neck, Headstock and Fingerboard

Pickups and Electronics

The Les Paul Studio Faded with Maple Top carries two of Gibson’s most successful PAF-humbucker reproductions, a Burstbucker Pro Lead in the bridge position and a Burstbucker Pro Rhythm in the neck. Both are designed as updated renditions of Gibson’s famous PAF humbucker of the late ’50s and early ’60s, modified for improved versatility, and routed through the classic Gibson four-knob and three-way switch control section.

Hardware

Body

Top	Maple
Back	Mahogany
Body Type	Chambered Weight Relief
Adhesive	Franklin Titebond 50

Neck

Species	Mahogany
Profile	50's Style
Truss Rod	Traditional Adjustable
Joint Angle	5° (+/- 15 seconds)
Adhesive	Franklin Titebond 50

Neck Fit

Joint	Mortise & Tenon
Adhesive	Franklin Titebond 50
Joint Angle Tolerance	+/- .005"

Fingerboard

Species	Baked Maple for Worn Brown and Worn Cherry. Obeche for Blue Stain and Ebony Stain
Frets	22
Radius	12"
Nut/E.O.B	1.695"/2.260"
Inlays	Figured Acrylic Trapezoids

Nut

Material	Corian
Width	1.695
Slots	Gibson PLEK System

Headstock

Logo	Gibson" Logo with scripted "Les Paul Model"
Truss Rod Cover	Black and White Antique Bell with "Studio" Imprint

Tuners

Model	Grover™ Tuners with Vintage-Style Green Keys
Plating	Nickel
Tuning Ratio	14:1

Bridge

Type	Nashville Tune-O-Matic
Material	Zamak
Plating	Chrome

Tailpiece

Type	Stop Bar
Material	Zamak
Plating	Chrome

Hardware

Knobs	Black Speed Knobs
Pickguard	Black plastic
Toggle Switch Washer	Black plastic
Control Plate Cover	Black plastic
Strap Buttons	Aluminum
Strings	.010 - .046, Genuine Gibson strings

Pickups

Neck Position	Burstbucker Pro
Bridge Position	Burstbucker Pro

Electronics

Potentiometers	2 Volume Controls, 2 Tone Controls
Type	300k Linear Volume, 500k Non-linear Tone
Coil Wiring	Machine Wound
Toggle Switch	Three-way Switchcraft with Black Plastic Tip
Output Jack	Traditional 1/4"

Finish

Sealer	Nitrocellulose
Process	1-1.5 mils

Worn Brown Worn Cherry Faded Blue Stain Faded Ebony Stain

Case

Type	Gibson Deluxe Gig Bag

Accessories

Additional Materials

Each Les Paul Studio comes with adjustment literature, and documentation for the guitar’s Limited Lifetime Warranty, along with Gibson’s 24/7/365 Customer Service.

Gibson Les Paul Studio Faded (Ebony Stain) @ Electro Music.
Price: £599.00.

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